Some may remember Ella Emhoff, Kamala Harris’ stepdaughter, from a few years back when she went viral for wearing a bejeweled Miu Miu jacket to Joe Biden’s inauguration. She became a meme of sorts in the days that followed and subsequently signed to IMG Models, in the years since making a name for herself in her own right.
The model and designer has amassed more than 317,000 followers on Instagram, and she’s embracing her artistic prowess in the Big Apple. Earlier this month, Emhoff debuted a textile exhibition at Gotham NYC, a “woman-owned legal cannabis concept store” in the Lower East Side.
“Thrilled to announce the opening of Ella Emhoff at Gotham, an exhibition of never-before-seen pieces by the textile artist,” a recent Instagram post from Gotham NYC teased. “Ella will also be debuting a collection of one of a kind knit clothing, for sale exclusively at Gotham.”
The self-proclaimed “premier licensed dispensary destination” offers a variety of products you’d find in any legal cannabis dispensary, like flower, prerolls, vapes, concentrates, edibles, topicals and drinks. However, Gotham also maintains a focus on lifestyle products. Many are explicitly related to cannabis, like unique ceramic bongs, stash jars, ashtrays, pokers and more, though Gotham also sells an array of apparel options.
The online site also displays some of Emhoff’s pieces, including a self portrait, a locket with a bird accent on top, another locket that reads “I Love You” on the front, a piece with two hair clips and more. The opening reception took place on April 4, though a number of Emhoff’s pieces have already sold.
Emhoff’s Instagram account also shows off a broader array of her pieces, which she calls knit paintings.
“This new art form kind of was birthed out of my knitwear, where I started kind of playing around with this duplicate stitch technique,” Emhoff told the New York Post during her reception. “But I found that no one really wanted to wear all of this stuff, because it’s kind of crazy and loud, but they liked looking at it. So then I just started experimenting. And now I’m here.”
The reception displayed 14 textile pieces alongside the various accessories and products of the shop, and Emhoff said that she took home all of the proceeds. Speaking with the Post, Emhoff said that the pieces were modeled after items, people and pets that “just kind of makes you smile.”
“Because these are all just objects [in the art] that I like, and I like looking at, but they obviously evoke some kind of happy emotion from people, because it’s a recognizable object in yarn,” she said. “I’m testing the waters, because obviously, I know it takes a lot of effort and time and just like putting yourself out there. But you know, it’s been fun so far.”
The reception saw nearly 400 attendees, many of whom were knitting hobbyists themselves.
Attendee and 24-year-old vegan chef Michelle called the art “fucking amazing” and “gorgeous,” adding, “I don’t even know how she began to do this stuff. It’s crazy. The different colors and the depths, it’s so insane.”
Another attendee, 24-year-old Cameron, said, “It’s not trying to be anything. It really is to like her like, ‘Oh, I’m gonna make this, this looks really fun.’”
Emhoff said that her mother, Kerstin Emhoff, first introduced her to knitting, teaching her the skill at age 6 while on a Disney vacation. While Emhoff is gradually moving away from wearable art, her knitted clothing was also for sale at the show, including drawstring pants, a knitted high-neck tank top and knitted biker shorts.
Emhoff’s collaboration with the New York cannabis shop comes as her stepmother, and the Biden administration as a whole, has increasingly touted cannabis reform measures in recent months. Harris notably pushed for a prompt decision on the rescheduling of cannabis last month, saying, “I cannot emphasize enough that they need to get to it as quickly as possible. And we need to have a resolution based on their findings and their assessment.”
During that same week, Harris told a room of cannabis pardon recipients at the White House that “we need to legalize marijuana,” according to a meeting participant.
While some advocates are looking forward to the potential changes that could come with an administration that will more brazenly fight for cannabis reform, others are calling the timing of these remarks into question given the upcoming presidential election and Biden’s fluctuating approval ratings.
Biden campaigned on decriminalizing cannabis and expunging cannabis convictions, though his pardons have essentially acted as a formal notion of forgiveness, rather than actually expunging records, and have been limited in scope.
